The so-called ‚ antibagarini‘ order issued by the Court of Florence, Chamber of the Court of Enterprise, prohibits the use, both in Italy and in Europe, of the image of Michelangelo’s David for commercial purposes without prior authorization of the Galleria dell‘ Accademia and payment of fees for its usage. It was the State Attorney who filed an application with the Florence Court against the company Visit Today that was selling the Galleria dell‘ Accademia in Florence tickets at a higher price using leaflets, promotional literature and the David’s image on their website. The Florentine judges held that Visit Today had never applied for or obtained permission from the administrative authority to use the image in question for lucrative purposes. The conduct of the resistant society has been classified as a general non-contractual offence pursuant to art. 2043 of the Italian Civil Code. The ordinance in question requires the withdrawal from the market of all the material disseminated and produced by the Visit Today that contains the reproduction of the work as well as elimination of the image of the famous sculpture from its website.

The decision is based on the provisions of the Italian Code of Cultural Heritage: article 106 establishes the general principle that the State, Regions and local public authorities may allow individual applicants to use these assets for purposes compatible with their cultural value, for example by means of reproduction acts. This means that the use of cultural goods for profit is subject to prior authorization. Articles 107 and 108 of the Code provide that the competent Public Administration may allow third-party uses of an item – including a work of art – belonging to the Italian cultural heritage, subject to payment of royalties that are determined based on the type of use required and economic advantage that the user would obtain from the use of the item. That said, authorization is not required in each and every case. Article 108, paragraph 3-bis, clarifies that non-profit uses of cultural heritage for the purposes of studies, research, freedom of expression or creative expression and promotion of knowledge of cultural heritage do not require prior authorization.